Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
| runtime = 77 minutes | language = English | budget = $762,000 | country = }} Abbott and Costello Go To Mars is a 1953 American science fiction comedy film directed by Charles Lamont and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The film follows the misadventures of Lester and Orville who accidentally find themselves on a rocketship bound for Mars, which accidentally lands at the New Orleans Mardi Gras. The pair are forced by bank robbers Mugsy and Harry to fly to Venus where they encounter a civilization consisting entirely of women. Despite the title, no one in this film actually goes to Mars. Plot Orville (Lou Costello) is the oldest orphan at the Hideaway Orphans Home. He accidentally winds up inside a truck heading to a top secret laboratory, where he is placed under the guidance of lab worker Lester (Bud Abbott) to help load supplies onto a rocketship. While onboard, Orville hits the ignition button and the rocket launches, and flies across the country to New Orleans, where Mardi Gras is in progress. They exit the ship and witness "hideous creatures", which are actually costumed celebrants, and conclude that they have landed on Mars. Meanwhile, two escaped convicts, Harry the Horse (Jack Kruschen) and Mugsy (Horace McMahon), enter the rocket, put on the available spacesuits, and head to New Orleans to rob a bank. Lester and Orville, also clad in spacesuits, are wrongly accused of the crime and rush back to the rocketship, where Mugsy and Harry force them to launch. After landing on Venus, the four men leave the rocketship, and Orville is quickly captured by local guards and brought to Queen Allura (Mari Blanchard), who informs him that Venus is only inhabited by women as men were banished a long time ago. She takes a shine to him and decides that he can stay if he promises to be true to her. He agrees, and has Harry and Mugsy imprisoned for their crimes. Mugsy then convinces one of the female guards to flirt with Orville to prove that he cannot be trusted. Orville "takes the bait", and the Queen orders all of the men to leave her planet. Upon returning to Earth, they are lauded as heroes, and Allura, who is watching the celebration from Venus, sends a spaceship to drop a cake on Orville's head. Cast * Bud Abbott as Lester * Lou Costello as Orville * Mari Blanchard as Allura * Robert Paige as Dr Wilson * Horace McMahon as Mugsy * Martha Hyer as Janie * Jack Kruschen as Harry * Joe Kirk as Dr. Orvilla * Jean Willes as Capt. Olivia * Anita Ekberg as Venusian Guard * Renate Hoy as Handmaiden (Miss Germany) (as Renate Huy) Production Filming took place between August 1 and August 28, 1952. Shortly after the film's release, Abbott and Costello appeared on The Colgate Comedy Hour and did a sketch in which they attended the film's premiere. The Venusian cars featured in the film were later used in This Island Earth (1955).Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0 The Venusian women were played by contestants in the Miss Universe competition. Anita Ekberg, the winner of the Miss Sweden competition, was among the ensemble. Robert A. Heinlein did a story idea in 1950 called Abbott and Costello Move to the Moon http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/ftp/nhol.pdf that may have inspired the screenplay. DVD releases This film has been released twice on DVD, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Three, on August 3, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection. image:a&cdvd3.jpg| August 3, 2004 References Bibliography * Wingrove, David. Science Fiction Film Source Book (Longman Group Limited, 1985) External links * * [http://www.eofftv.com/a/abb/abbott_and_costello_go_to_mars_main.htm Abbott and Costello Go to Mars @ EOFFTV] Category:1953 films Category:Abbott and Costello (film series) Category:Films set in New Orleans, Louisiana Category:American comedy science fiction films Category:Black-and-white films Category:English-language films Category:Space adventure films Category:Films directed by Charles Lamont Category:1950s comedy films Category:Venus in fiction Category:Universal Pictures films Category:1950s science fiction films Category:1953 Category:Film Category:Bud Abbott Category:Lou Costello